Pride Toronto Town Hall Liveblog: How the Organization Plans to Handle Police Presence at the Parade

Nearly two months after the city’s annual parade celebrating LGBTQ communities, Pride Toronto has organized a town hall meeting to discuss its future. In particular, the meeting will discuss the role of the Toronto Police in the Pride parade, after former Pride Toronto executive director Mathieu Chantelois signed a set of demands—including a call to ban Toronto Police floats from the parade—from grassroots activism group Black Lives Matter at the celebration this year.

Since that signing in July, much has transpired. Chantelois did an about-face on the demands, suggesting to media mere days after he signed them that he would not uphold his promises. (In August, he stepped down from his role at Pride for unrelated reasons.) Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders, meanwhile, made a plea to Pride for police to stay active in the parade. A letter written by a gay officer went viral. And Black Lives Matter has remained steadfast in its initial demands.

The town hall meetings take place tonight and tomorrow at Ada Slaight Hall, Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park.